


Audience of One

by SaraJaye



Category: Shoujo Kakumei Utena | Revolutionary Girl Utena
Genre: Angst, F/F, Piano, Pre-Femslash, Troubled sibling relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-14
Updated: 2016-01-14
Packaged: 2018-05-13 22:55:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5720047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SaraJaye/pseuds/SaraJaye
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She gives the piano another chance for revenge on an old memory and a brother who's grown distant, never realizing who might be listening.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Audience of One

**Author's Note:**

  * For [veleda_k](https://archiveofourown.org/users/veleda_k/gifts).



The first time she tried to play the piano again, she froze and ran out of the empty music room in tears. Memories of Miki pale and asleep in bed, the audience's murmurs, her father and teacher's disappointed _tsks_. Worst of all, her brother's disappointment and subsequent distancing of himself from her.

 _So I just won't play anymore. It's his own fault for refusing to grow up, for being such a child about this...!_

But at 4am that morning, she woke up, couldn't go back to sleep and found herself at the music room again. This time she glared at the piano as angrily as she could, determined to destroy its smug power over her once and for all. _This isn't for anyone but me, me, **me.**_ In fact, she hoped she played so badly it woke everyone and made them suffer. Her fingers rushed across the keys, playing a fast and angry melody.

Then, once she'd cooled down, her hands slowed and she found herself in a softer tune. Not _that_ piece, thankfully, but something calming.

_It was never your fault, Miki. I should have never taken it out on you...and it wasn't mine, either. Maybe there's no one to blame. I just...wish we could be that close again._

She finished her solitary performance with tears in her eyes. Moments later, she heard quiet, nervous applause and spun around, her heart skipping a beat.

"Who's there?"

"I'm sorry. I heard the noise, and I was curious as to who could play so passionately this early..." Kozue recognized the voice and then the face as that girl who watched Juri Arisugawa from the shadows, the one who...well, _that_ didn't matter, not anymore.

"Shiori?"

"You're very good. You should play more often, even if it's alone. Of course...I'll always sit in and listen, if you don't mind."

She'd sworn never to play for an audience again, but an audience of one person who barely knew her, someone she could get to know...maybe it would be okay.

"I'll be here tomorrow at the same time. Unless that's too early."

"No, that's all right. I can't sleep well these days anyway." Shiori smiled a little. "I look forward to it."


End file.
